


Mr Loverman

by ClaraKing404



Series: Mr Loverman [1]
Category: Dream Team - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Dream (Video Blogging RPF) - Freeform, DreamTeam, GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF) - Freeform, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28716450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClaraKing404/pseuds/ClaraKing404
Summary: A DreamNotFound fanfic set in the middle of June in the year 2023, Clay attends Florida's leading college. Life was pretty boring until a new student arrived. Clay thought of him as just a friend until a dream from a party caused it to be way more...
Relationships: Clay | Dream/GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Karl Jacobs & Sapnap
Series: Mr Loverman [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2182107
Comments: 5
Kudos: 27





	1. New Student And A Party Invite

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoy it :] it's also on my Wattpad- my @ is ClaraKing404 (I suggest listening to Mr Loverman by Ricky Montgomery before/while reading this)

It was 1:07pm at Florida’s leading college when Clay was strolling down the hall and saw the teacher he hated the most walk towards him. He stuck his hands in his pockets, put his head down and walked hastily. He hadn’t got very far when the teacher had put his hand on Clay’s shoulder to get his attention. Clay immediately looked up. ‘A new student is arriving today and he’ll be sharing a room with you, Clay.’ the teacher explained. ‘When is he arriving, sir?’ Clay asked, a bit in panic. His room was a mess and would not help make a good first impression in the slightest. ‘This evening.’ the teacher replied confidently. ‘Ok, thank you sir!’ Clay said quickly before running down the hall. ‘Also…’ the teacher grabbed Clay’s attention again. He hated this. What was he going to be told next? He had to do a deep clean of his room instead of lessons?

Unfortunately for Clay, that was true. ‘I would like you to properly clean your room to make sure you give a good first impression of the students here so you will be missing your lessons for the rest of the day.’ the teacher broke to Clay. He didn’t mind missing lessons. What he did mind was the ‘cleaning his room’ part. He hated cleaning. Clay walked to the stairs and followed them up to his room. He sat on his bed for about an hour scrolling through Twitter and YouTube. He jumped when he heard a gentle knock at his door. He tried to throw away all the rubbish he could before opening the door. He looked down slightly and saw someone unfamiliar. ‘Hello?’ Clay tried to start a conversation. ‘Uhm… hi… are you Clay Anderson?’ The boy standing in front of him was small, probably a year behind him, he wore a blue jumper on top of a white collared shirt and what looked like black framed glasses with orange lenses. 

‘Yes?’ He replied. ‘Who are you?’ Clay was worried. Was this his new roommate? It couldn’t be. It’s too early. The teacher had said he’d come in the evening, not late afternoon. ‘I’m George Founder... ’ his British name went with his British accent. ‘Apparently I’m staying in this room?’ Clay panicked. He hadn't had a proper chance to clear up his mess. Takeaway boxes were left on the counter, clothes were still on the floor. ‘Uhhh, yeah, that's me… I’m terribly sorry about the mess.’ Clay apologized. ‘It’s fine! I can help you clean if you want!’ George offered. ‘Really?’ Clay was surprised. ‘I was told I don’t have to attend any lessons this afternoon so I could clean because you were supposed to arrive this evening but I guess we could spend the rest of the afternoon cleaning if you want…’ Clay offered. 

‘Good idea! We can start now!’ George was very eager to clean Clay’s room for him. ‘Don’t you want to unpack first?’ Clay was so confused. He’d never met someone who put his priorities in front of their own. ‘Nope! I’ll unpack once the room is tidy and there’s enough space to put stuff.’ George reassured his new roommate while adjusting his glasses. ‘We should probably start on the floor… also, when was the last time you emptied your bin?’ George asked as politely as he could in his British accent. ‘My what?’ clearly Clay clearly wasn’t familiar with British words. ‘A bin. You know… the thing you put rubbish in?’ George attempted explaining. ‘Oh! You mean a trash can?’ Clay finally got it. ‘A- Uhm… yeah.’ George hoped that they would both get used to each other's habits. 

A few hours later, the pair had finished cleaning Clay’s and now also George’s room. 

‘Did you have any lunch?’ Clay asked his roommate. ‘Uhm… no’ George was starving; he hadn’t eaten since early this morning. ‘Well, we could go out and I could take you to my favorite restaurant! We should also probably go shopping for some actual food… you probably don’t like eating takeout every night.’ Clay offered. ‘That would be great!’ George was excited to get to know his new roommate; He needed a friend or two. Back in his old college in England, people would make fun of his glasses and called him four eyes. They weren’t even glasses for blurry eyesight or anything like that. Clay wanted to know what the glasses actually did but refrained from asking; it might upset George and he didn’t want to ruin what could end up being a perfect friendship. 

The pair walked to Clay’s car and about 25 minutes later, they were sitting down in Clay’s favorite restaurant. There was an uncomfortable silence. Clay decided to break it by asking George about himself ‘So… why did you move to Florida?’ Clay was curious. Weren’t British schools and colleges meant to be really good and expensive? ‘I was bullied a lot there.’ George said quietly. ‘Why did people bully you? You seem like a really nice person.’ George blushed slightly at this comment. ‘Thanks… but people didn’t like me because of my glasses. They thought I wore them just to draw attention to myself.’ George explained. ‘I’m so sorry… I hope the same doesn't happen at your new college.’ Clay tried being nice for once. He wasn’t a particularly happy person overall; he had only two of three friends. ‘Eh… it’s not your fault. I guess I didn’t really have many friends back then either.’ George pulled out his phone and started scrolling through twitter as Clay ordered their food. 

A few minutes later, Clay decided to ask George about his glasses ‘Uhhh… I hope you don’t mind me asking…’ George looked up and saw his roommate looking at him, or more specifically, his glasses. ‘What are your glasses for?’ Clay asked hesitantly. ‘I don’t really like talking about it but it’s because I’m colourblind. These glasses help me to see shades of red, purple, green and a few more colours. They don’t do the best job but they help.’ George explained. The two sat in an awkward silence until their food arrived. Clay decided to get to know more about his new roommate ‘What games do you like?’ Clay personally liked playing Minecraft, although a lot of people made fun of him for it. ‘Well… don’t make fun of me for it but… I play Minecraft… don’t make fun of me, please…’ Playing Minecraft was another thing he got bullied for so he was always refrained from telling new people about himself. 

But he just felt… welcome around Clay. He felt like he could tell him more about himself with him unusually more than other people he met. George waited, slightly squinting, for a reply and an instant opinion from Clay. ‘Really?!’ As his roommate said this, George looked down at the table, ashamed. ‘I know… it’s a pointless game. It’s a waste of money.’ George tried to sound like he disliked Minecraft. ‘It’s not a waste of money, George! It’s a good game! There are just a lot of people out there who don't like the game for some reason.’ Clay was happy he had a roommate to talk to about Minecraft for hours without annoying them. 

After a few more minutes of introducing each other while eating their dinner in Clay’s favorite restaurant, Clay decided they should go back to their college dorm. The pair got to their room and sat on their beds. They both did homework on their laptops in the comfortable silence. About an hour later, they heard a knock on the door. George looked over at his roommate who was clearly ignoring the door. George let out a small sigh before getting up to answer the door. Clay shot George a panicked look. ‘What?’ George thought it was impolite to not answer the door when someone knocked. ‘It could be a nerd from the year below us for all I know! They could be inviting us to a party or something…’ Clay whispered. 

He didn’t like parties; he would always end up getting drunk and then waking up the next day feeling horrible. George didn’t worry about what Clay said and opened the door anyway. The person standing at the door was slightly taller than George, he had black hair and wore a white bandana under his hair. Dream looked up from his laptop and saw his best friend in the doorway. ‘Oh! Hey Nick.’ Clay walked to the door as George moved to the side. ‘Hi… Uhm, I know you're not a big fan of parties but me and Darryl are hosting one tonight and I was wondering if you and your new roommate would like to come.’ Nick offered. A few seconds later, Darryl, Clays other best friend, came running down the corridor. ‘Hey! I told you to leave them alone, you muffin!’ Darryl shouted after Nick. 

‘Anyway, since we’re here… how’s your new roommate, Clay?’ Darryl tried to make conversation. ‘He’s ok… George, meet my friends: Darryl and Nick.’ George saw the guy he had opened the door to along with someone the same height as himself with dark brown hair and a pair of half moon glasses. ‘Hello.’ George greeted, slightly shy. ‘He also plays Minecraft!’ Clay announced. ‘Hey! You don’t have to shout it out to the whole school!’ George panicked. ‘Whatever… it’s only the more popular ones who look down on us.’ Nick reassured the small boy. ‘Also~ the more popular people aren’t invited to our party~ so you won’t be judged by people for just playing a game~’ Nick persuaded the pair to come along to the party again. ‘So… there’s no Niki or Wilbur?’ Clay asked. ‘Nope. they’ll just take over our dorm. We’re not risking it.’ Darryl replied reassuringly. ‘We’ve got an invite list here if you wanna read it.’ Nick handed Clay the list. It consisted of a decent amount of people. It read:

_ Darryl and Nick- party 20/6/23 ( _ **_20th June 2023)_ **

  * _Clay (+his roommate)_


  * Zak


  * Eret


  * Fundy


  * Karl


  * Alex



‘We might invite some more people at last minute.’ Nick told Clay and George. ‘I see you haven’t invited Tommy and Tubbo…’ Clay noticed, with a smile on his face. Tommy and Tubbo were a pair of troublemakers from the year below the boys. They rarely got invited to parties; they always ruined them by messing around or telling the teachers about the party so they would stop. ‘So… Do you still wanna stay here instead of going to the party, Clay?’ George asked with a smug look on his face. ‘If you wanna go, George, that’s fine with me. I’m not going though.’ Clay had been to all of the parties he had been invited to until the one he went to at the end of last year. He broke up with his girlfriend after she didn’t show up after promising repetitively that she would be there. She would also never pay attention to him. It was like he was invisible to her. 

‘Clay, she’s not going to be at this party.’ Darryl knew why Clay didn’t want to go; he was that friend who listens to people's problems and helps them deal with it. Everyone looked hopefully at Clay, who just sighed and said ‘fine. I’ll come along too.’ the 3 boys standing around him cheered. ‘We’ll give you time to get ready! You can arrive any time you want.’ Nick and Darryl walked away, down the corridor, back to their dorm. Clay let out a sigh as he sat down on his bed and continued working on his laptop. ‘Aren’t you gonna get ready?’ George reminded him as he adjusted his glasses again. ‘Fine…’ Clay got up and headed over to his draws that were half-full of clothes. The other half was filled with George's things. About 20 minutes later, both of the boys were heading down the corridor. They knocked on the door and were immediately dragged into a game of truth or dare. 


	2. The Dream From The Party

It was almost supernaturally hot in Florida on the day of the party. Clay was sitting in a circle on the floor with his friends while he was sweating under his plain white t-shirt. The game was about to begin and George was nervous. He had never drunk alcohol in his life. He had never kissed anyone outside his family either. He was scared one or two of these things were going to change tonight. ‘Who wants to go first?’ Nick eagerly asked so they all could start the game ‘George? You’re new… it’s only polite if we let you go first.’ George thought for a second. Then he came up with a truth and a dare for Nick. ‘Nick..? Is that your name?’ George asked. ‘Yeah.’ He replied. ‘Ok… Nick, truth or dare?’ George sat in silence as he waited for Nick to answer. ‘Uhhh… truth.’ He replied confidently. ‘Ok… do you have a crush on anyone? And if you do, who is it?’ 

Nick looked around at the group with anxiousness clearly showing in his dark brown eyes. He knew he did. He just wasn’t sure if they liked him back. Eventually, he decided it was just a game and gave in to the smaller boy. ‘Karl’ everyone in the circle gasped simultaneously as Nick just sat there and blushed. Karl sat there, staring at Nick, which didn’t help his situation at all. ‘You do?’ Karl had a twisting feeling in his stomach. ‘Yeah... ‘ Nick was surprised with his reaction. ‘You guys wanna… Uhhh… take that somewhere else?’ Alex offered privacy for the pair to talk about what Nick had just confessed. Nick and Karl headed to a different room to talk things down about their relationship. 

‘My turn!’ Darryl exclaimed eagerly. ‘George!’ George started to get the same anxious feeling in the pit of his stomach as the one he had when he first arrived at the college. What if the truth or dare was bad? ‘Truth or dare?’ Darryl asked with an excited look on his face. ‘Uhhh…’ George looked at Clay nervously. Clay nodded at him in reassurance with a look on his face that said something along the lines of  _ it will be fine _ . ‘Dare.’ George decided. As he said this, Clay smacked his forehead. With that, George began to get even more nervous. ‘Oooh…’ Darryl wasn’t the type of friend to give mean dares but George was new… he was sure something different wouldn’t hurt. ‘I dare you to challenge Clay to drink a whole can of beer, the first to finish wins.’ Darryl let out in one breath. George’s stomach had had it. His eyes were wide in disbelief. ‘Really..?’ George wanted to know if he was serious. ‘YEAH! DO IT GOGY!’ Nick shouted from the other room. Apparently he and Karl had been listening to the entire conversation they had about George’s dare. 

George stood up and helped Clay to also stand up by putting a hand out for him to grab. The pair walked over to the hosts’ kitchen area. When George was about to open the mini fridge, he hesitated.  _ Did he really want to do this? Did he really want to make himself sick because of a stupid dare from a college party? _ After a few seconds, he opened the fridge and took two medium sized cans and set them on the linoleum counter above the fridge. He shut the fridge and took the two metal cans to the center of the circle in the dimly lit room. ‘Ok… on the count of three, you two have to start downing the drinks.’ Darryl instructed. ‘Ok…’ George replied in his British accent as he took his colourblind glasses off to make things easier. ‘3’ Darryl began. George held the cold metal can in his right hand and his glasses in the other. ‘2’ Clay stood back-to-back with George and prepared to down the can of clear, yellowish liquid. ‘1’ the two boys drew the cans close to their mouths… ‘START!’ Darryl shouted. The pair started to drink. Clay was already half way when George had only drunk about one third of his can. About 30 seconds later, Clay dropped his can and put his hands in the air, signaling his victory. George lowered the can from his mouth as he groaned. He knew he wasn't going to win; it was almost as if Clay was two times his size. Well, at least it felt like that. The pair sat back down into the oddly shaped circle. 

A few rounds later, Clay could feel his head throb with a headache. He decided he would get a glass of water, drink it and leave; he couldn’t take the loud music and continuous shouting. ‘I’m gonna get a glass of water then leave if that’s ok?’ he asked Nick; it was his dorm, he wanted to make sure he could leave without being rude. ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ Clay got up from his spot on the floor and headed over to the kitchen. He downed two glasses of the clear liquid before asking if George wanted to leave with him. ‘Uhm… is it ok if I stay here for a bit?’ George didn’t want to miss the chance to make new friends. ‘Sure…’ Clay felt something odd in his stomach. It wasn’t a particularly good feeling. Was it a feeling of longing? Then Clay decided no, it couldn’t be; he had only just met George. He continued to walk further down the peaceful corridor, attempting to push the bugging thought of George in his head away-  _ did he really ‘like’ George?  _

He thought of his blue jumper over his oversized white collared shirt. He thought of the way he adjusted his glasses every once in a while. When he walked through the door of his dorm, he dropped the thought. He didn’t want to think of anything right now. All he wanted to do was focus on sleeping. He put on a different t-shirt, thinner than the one he wore to the party. He lay in bed, facing the blank ceiling. He eventually felt his eyelids grow heavy and eventually drop. 

What seemed like a few minutes later, he found himself walking up a set of stairs. He was crying. _Why am I crying?!_ He thought to himself. But then he remembered. He had just broken up with his girlfriend. He didn’t know where the stairs led but he followed them anyway. Eventually, he ended up on the rooftop of a building. He walked over to the gate which wrapped around the brim of the tall building. He looked over and saw lights. So many lights. The bright lights shining from windows consisted of colours such as purple, green, blue and a yellowish white. He could see cars rushing below him like a school of fish in a river. He felt a cool breeze brush against his face, making the streams where the tears had been grow cold. As he took in the extraordinary view and enjoyed the cool night air, he heard someone open the door to the rooftop. He unstuck his eyes from the city below and saw a small, dark figure walk towards him. 

The shadows fade from the figure as they draw closer. They looked familiar. They had a blue jumper over a white collared shirt. From what Clay could make out, they were wearing a pair of oddly coloured glasses. Then it clicked. It was George. What was he doing here? What were they  _ both _ doing here? ‘George?’ Clay made sure it was definitely him. ‘Yes?’ it was definitely him; the British accent lacing his words. ‘What are you doing here?’ Clay asked. He felt so light headed. He wanted to go back to his dorm but his gut feeling was gluing him to the spot. ‘I was looking for you, Clay.’ George rarely mentions his name. Clay never got to hear how it perfectly rolled off his tongue in the British accent. 

George came closer to Clay, to the point he was right in front of him, looking up; he was about a foot shorter than Clay. He stood there, looking down at the shorter boy, wide eyed. ‘W-what’s going on?’ Clay could feel the heat rise to his face. ‘Why are you crying?’ George looked worried. Clay hated that. ‘I- it doesn’t matter.’ Clay reassured the smaller boy ‘it’s fine, I’m fine.’ he continued. George clearly wasn’t buying it. He wiped the small stream of salty water off Clay’s face with his thumb. ‘Tell me what’s wrong.’ George demanded. Clay heard the seriousness in his voice. He decided to tell George the truth. ‘I broke up with my girlfriend.’ he admitted. ‘We had been dating for 2 years.’ George had never truly loved someone before but felt like he could sympathize with him. ‘She was ignorant.’ Clay had something else weighing down on his mind but he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was. ‘I’m also not really into girls anymore I guess.’ that was it. ‘You’re not?’ George could feel a twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach. ‘Yeah… they’re all the same… make up, short dresses, worried about their look more than anything else.’ Clay felt safe talking to George about things like this.  _ Why? _ The question replayed in his head over and over.  _ Why? Why had he just said that? How does he know he can trust him? He literally met him that same day.  _ Well, at least he thought so. 

‘I thought I should tell you sooner or later, you being my roommate and stuff, but I prefer boys over girls…’ George stood there, the light of the city below shining onto his face, his hair was a mess.  _ Why was his hair messy? _ Clay wondered. The dim light of the moon slightly lit up the pavement floor of the rooftop. The pair stood in a comfortable silence as the vehicles below shouted. The pair grew closer without realizing. ‘You know… I like people who are actually loving. And they mean it. It makes relationships so much better.’ Clay mentioned out of the blue. His eyes grew wide as he realized what he had just said to George.  _ George is loving. He actually cares about the people he’s close to.  _ Then it hit him. 

‘H-hey George..?’ Clay’s heart was pounding like he had just run a marathon. ‘Yeah?’ George replied in his British accent. ‘Umm... have you ever… had a crush on anyone before..?’ Clay was trying to be careful with his words. He waited, desperate for an answer. ‘I have… yeah.’ George responded. Clay started to feel dizzy. ‘Uhm… I hope you don't mind me asking but who was it?’ Clay thought he was being overprotective. But then he realized, there could be a good outcome from this conversation. ‘It was… and it still is…’ George started. Clay’s head was going crazy.  _ George still likes this guy?! What if it’s not… ‘ _ I’ll be completely honest… it’s you.’ George looked up at Clay with a look that clearly showed he was wishing for a response. 

Clay fought back the urge to kiss him right then and there, in front of the crowd of skyscrapers which hung above the sea of cars. George looked to his left to look at the wonderful sight of coloured lights and rushing cars again. A few seconds later, he looked back up at Clay, his eyes reflecting the light the buildings produced. He giggled then just said ‘I’m glad I came up here looking for you…’ before he closed the already small space between the two boys with a kiss. 

Clay woke up, laying what might as well have been a puddle of sweat. He looked to his side and saw George on the other side of the room. The whole thing had been a dream. Clay looked at the clock on his bedside table to see it read in glowing green numbers: 04:23. It was so early; he decided he would go back to sleep for now and talk about his dream in the morning when both him and George are awake. 


	3. Downpour And Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay and George walk around in the rain and eat from a takeaway while talking about Clay's dream/nightmare from the party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> online school has been in the way and stuff so this took longer to write than the other chapters (also writers block is a thing so that sucks)

Clay woke up to the sunshine seeping through the slips in his blinds. He lifted his hand to wipe his face; the night had been rough. Drinking an entire beer can within seconds followed by a dream which could have been a nightmare for all he knew. He turned to his side and looked over at the other side of the room to check if George was there. He was gone. Clay forced himself out of bed and slipped a hoodie and jeans on to go and find George. Then panic struck him like a lightning bolt. What if he was on the roof. Then he decided, if he was, he would just bring him straight back to the dorm; he didn’t want to relive his nightmare. But was it a nightmare? The thought lingered in Clay’s mind while he looked for George. He tried calling his name in their dorm but there was no reply. He looked out his window to see dark clouds ahead. They were clearly heading his way. 

He decided he would go out and catch the rain, even if it didn’t last long or he was dragged back inside by a teacher. He walked down the stairs, avoiding any contact with the other students wandering the hall. He walks out the door when he sees raindrops falling from the cloudy sky as several students shot him strange looks for walking into the rain without a coat or something to keep him dry. The further he walked down the field, the more rain seemed to fall. He stopped after about a minute of walking. He looks around at the sky. The clouds had a pink light reflecting off them. This brought Clay back to his childhood; he would always look out of his kitchen window and stare at them until the pink shimmer went away. 

Clay looked around to take in the view of the rain falling hard from the sky. While looking at the rain, he sees a small figure in the distance. He felt a nervous twist in his stomach. Was it the same small dark figure he had encountered in his dream? But then again he considered:  _ was it a dream or a nightmare? _ The question had been bugging him all morning and he needed something to take his mind off it. He decided to focus on the person on the other side of the field. He thought he’d walk closer to find out who it was. As he walked closer, Clay saw the orange-tinted glasses and immediately knew who it was. “George?” He called, just to make sure it definitely was him. George turned around abruptly to come face to face with his roommate. “Oh! Hi…” George greeted. “What are you doing out in the rain?” Clay asked the smaller boy. “I like the rain” he began “It reminds me of Britain. It always used to rain there.” George reminded himself of the weather in his old country. 

The two stood in silence and enjoyed the rain for a while. “I’ve only known you for a day but it feels like way more…” George giggled as he washed away the silence. “Yeah…” Clay replied after a few seconds. George could hear a hint of tiredness in his roommate's voice “did you sleep well?” he knew it might have been hard after the drinking and the noise. “Hm? Oh… yeah, I slept well.” the taller boy lied. “You didn’t.” George corrected him. “What?” Clay was confused.  _ How did he know? And why does he care? I just met him. It's not like we’re best friends or anything… _ “I can hear it in your voice, Clay.” George told him. “I’m… sorry George. I’ll definitely sleep better tonight.” he reassured. “Was it the party?” George asked. “What?” Clay had zoned out the conversation and drew his attention to the rain; he thought the conversation was over. “That caused your lack of sleep? If you didn’t sleep well, there has to be a reason why.” George explained. “Oh! Yeah… uh,” Clay knew he had to expose his dream but he didn’t know how to without making him or George uncomfortable. “Just had a bad dream, that's all.” Clay hoped to not be asked that dreaded question:  _ you wanna talk about it?  _ “Well, you wanna talk about it?” 

Damn. “It’s good to talk about these things, Clay.” He felt like George knew what the dream or nightmare was and he was teasing him with it- dangling it infront of his face like an owner waving a toy in front of their cat’s face, just for the cat to chase and never catch. “I-I don’t think I wanna talk about it right now, George… maybe another time.” Clay could feel the heat rise to his face. “Oh… ok… that’s fine. Just know I’m here if you need to talk to anyone about anything.” Clay was happy he had George as a roommate. The pair decided to start heading back to their dorm once the rain had died down. They hadn’t yet got off the field when Clay saw two familiar boys came walking up to them. “Oh no” Clay mumbled under his breath. 

These two boys were the definition of trouble and friendship at the same time. 

“Who are they?” George asked obliviously. “Just carry on walking, go go go.” Clay didn’t need Tommy and Tubbo pestering him while he was with George and he was happy. “Hey Clay?!” He heard a British accent from the 16 year old. Clay tried to walk past but was stopped by a smug looking Tubbo. “Who are you two?” George finally felt confident over some people; he was older, slightly taller than Tubbo. But Tommy, on the other hand, was at least half a foot taller than him. “I’m Tommy and this is my friend, Tubbo” He responded in a loud voice. “Leave us alone. George, he’s a child, lets just go.” Clay tried to fight back the smile that somehow still found its way onto his face. “Tubbo, go get ‘em!” The shorter boy ran after the older ones who were about to walk inside. Tubbo grabs the collar of George’s blue jumper. He stops in his tracks at the sudden tug. Clay slowly turns around, looking at Tommy directly in the eye. “Stop.” Clay ordered in a serious tone. No one brought out this side of him apart from the two trouble-makers in front of him. 

Tommy backed away, pulling Tubbo with him by the arm. The two ran in the opposite direction of the field- the way to their dorm. Clay drags George with him to quickly slither through the crowds the weekends bring to the halls. About two minutes later, the two boys were in their room, sitting on their own beds. George had Minecraft open on his laptop- he was making a world for Clay to look around, while Clay was working on some slightly overdue homework. “Uhm… who were the two boys from earlier?” George asked for the third time that day. “Tommy and Tubbo. I’m not sure if you were listening last night, but I asked if they were invited to the party or not. I was glad they weren’t coming because they’re two trouble-makers from the year below us.” Clay explained. “Oh… by the way… thanks for sticking up for me back then. I don’t think you know quite how much I appreciate it.”

George never had someone to stick up for him in his old college. 

“Hey, you said you’re here if I need to talk about anything. It’s the least I can do.” Clay replied with a grateful smile on his face. The two sat in comfortable silence for a while- the only noise surrounding them was the click of the keys on both laptops. “Uhm… I don’t mean to annoy you, but…” George started. “Go on…” Clay knew George wouldn’t annoy him. “Can you tell me about that dream you had last night?” Clay gave in. “I-I… yeah, ok. Well… you were there. We were on a rooftop in front of a big colourfully lit up city, and I was crying; I had just broken up with my girlfriend.” George was suddenly struck with what felt like heartbrokenness. “You-you have a girlfriend?” he asked. “Probably not for much longer… why?” Clay was curious.  _ Why does he need to know this? He’s just my roommate.  _ “I was just wondering.” George lied. “Ummm, ok, the next thing that happened in my dream was you said that the view of the city was pretty then… then you-” Clay was struggling to get it out. “What?” George wanted to help him through this. “You said we should head back inside because the breeze was getting too cold. That's where the dream ended, and I woke up.” Clay lied. “How is that bad?” George asked in his British accent. 

Clay had to come up with an excuse. “We were extremely close to the edge of the building. It felt like we were about to fall off. A-and I hate heights.” Clay lied again. He loved heights; when he was a kid, he would always climb to the highest point in the playground or he would scale the trees. “Oh… well, I don’t really know what to say… just seems like a normal dream to me.” George responded while still looking at his laptop. “Do you wanna get some food?” George offered. Clay wasn’t hungry. “Yeah sure.” He lied for the third time. George picked up the phone to place an order at the chinese a few minutes away from the college. About 20 minutes later, the pair were picking up the food from the Chinese. They both sat and ate in silence. Clay hated silence. “Do you wanna go on a walk?” he offered. “Trying to break the silence?” George asked with a grin on his face. “N- yes…” Clay replied, he also had a grin on his face “but seriously, George, I’m bored. Do you wanna walk around the college for a bit?” Clay wanted him to say yes; he was fed up with sitting in his room with two keyboards being the only thing splitting the silence. “Uhhh… yeah, sure.” George got up to find his raincoat; it was still raining. 

The pair made their way down the stairs towards the door at the front of the building. They walked out into the rain again. “So… did  _ you  _ sleep well last night?” Clay wouldn’t be able to tell if he was lying but it was worth a try. “Oh… I didn’t sleep for too long but I guess it’s because of the party… I’ll definitely sleep longer tonight though.” George reassured. This made Clay think  _ what happened at the party after he left?  _ “Um, random question, what happened at the party last night after I left?” George could hardly remember. “Well… we carried on playing truth or dare, Nick and Karl went to Karl’s dorm-” “you know who Karl is?” Clay asked; he hadn’t introduced him to George yet. “Yeah, Darryl introduced me to everyone there before the game got too intense.”  _ too intense?  _ Clay thought.  _ What does he mean by that? What happened? _ “You said it got intense, were you ok?”  _ Why do I care?!  _ Clay thought to himself. “Yeah, I was ok. Some other people weren’t… it got pretty chaotic closer to the end.” “You stayed for the whole thing?!” Clay didn’t know George to be the type of person to stay late at parties. 

“Yeah, it would only be polite.” George told Clay as if he was stupid. “What party are we talking about?” the two boys heard from behind them.


	4. Issues and Non-Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay gets mad at George, they go on walks and start to realise their feelings for each other.

“What party are we talking about?” the two boys heard from behind them. Clay turned around almost instantly. He saw Niki and Wilbur standing there. “What do you want Wil?” Clay asked in a fed up tone. “Hmm… can you tell us about that party you were talking about?” Niki asked. “It was just a few people,” George started, “Nick, Darryl… those types of people.” Clay shot George a confused and angry look.  _ Why was he talking to Niki and Wilbur with such confidence?! And how? He’s only new… What if they do something to him?  _ Clay panicked in his head as he waited for a reply from the older friends in front of them. “Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you anywhere-” before the girl could continue talking to George, he cut in with an introduction. “I’m George Founder, I’m in the same year as Clay. We’re friends… I think…” “well, it’s nice to meet you George!” Clay was suspicious.  _ Why is she talking to him as though he’s a two year old? He’s eighteen, not a toddler.  _

“We really must go back to our dorm… come on George.” Clay grabbed George’s forearm and pulled him in the direction of the doors at the front of the tall building. “Clay, they don’t seem like bad people…” George was cut off by Clay’s protests “George. We need to go.” He stated in a serious tone with a dead look on his face. George was scared. He reluctantly followed where his roommate was dragging him. Five minutes later, George was sitting on his bed, taking in everything that Clay was ranting about the past half an hour. “They are two of the most popular people in the school. You don’t want to be friends with them; they act like they own the place.” Clay was pacing the room as he talked at George. “Who even are they?!” George thought this whole conversation was unfair- he’s new, he doesn’t know anyone except for his roommate and his roommate’s friends. “I’m only new! I literally only know a few people here and there.” George didn’t want to fight with Clay, but if it meant he could prove a point, he would. 

“Well, you should have listened last night-” “I CAN’T REMEMBER ANYTHING FROM LAST NIGHT!” George was on the verge of tears. He hated fighting. Clay took a small step back in surprise. “You shouted.” He was taken aback. He never knew George to be the type of person to shout. He thought he was polite  _ and loving _ just like in his dream. But then he thought to himself again that one annoying thought.  _ Was it really a dream?  _ He really didn’t like George in that moment of thought so he considered it a nightmare. “Yes. yes I did shout.” George replied as though the boy standing infront of him was stupid. Or in Clay’s words ‘stew-pid’. George looked down at the floor; he had messed up. “I’m sorry.” he sighed “I’m just stressed… a bit.” George never looked stressed; he always looks so calm. As if nothings ever wrong. 

“It-it’s fine… I understand you’re new so you don’t know much and I know- wait, how much did you drink last night? How did you end up forgetting everything that happened?” Clay said, sounding a bit worried. “Well… not much…” George trailed off. “GEORGE!” Clay yelles through a laugh. “What?!” George replied, also laughing. “Alright, no parties for you for two weeks!” Clay joked. “I need to make friends, Clay!” George protested. “I was joking!” Clay assured. “Any parties on tonight?” George asked with a smug look on his face. “George! It doesn’t work like that!” Clay let out a wheeze at the end, “you have to wait until you’re invited to one!” “well… can’t we host one?” George asked politely. “Not today, maybe in a week or two.” Clay said through a sigh. “Aw… I wanted to invite Nick and Darryl; they seem like nice people and they’re my friends now I guess.” Clay rolled his eyes at the statement. “Yeah… ok.” Clay said with emphasis on the ‘ok’. 

“Right… well, we can see them outside of parties and stuff so why don’t we meet up with them for a bit and we can just talk while doing homework if you want…” Clay suggested. “Yeah! That’s a good idea!” George replied, overjoyed that he got to see his new friends again. [The pair had done a lot of walking already that day so they went back to their dorms to pick up their laptops and then went to Nick and Darryl’s dorm to spend a few hours there and help each other with homework. They walked up to the door and Clay gestured to George to knock. Nick was the first to get to the door; Darryl was doing something on his computer. “What.” Nick answered in a dead tone - not knowing who was at the door. “Hey! Don’t talk to people like that!” George and Clay heard a muffled shout from the back of the room. Nick looked up and saw his best friend and George standing in front of him. “I am so sorry, I thought you were a couple of teachers… or Wil and Niki or something...” Nick trailed off, “anyway, what do you two need?” George stepped up and told him, “we’re here cause we’ve been walking a lot today and we’ve got homework to do.” “yeah… and I told him that we could stay in your dorm for a few hours so we can help each other with the homework.” Clay explained. “Yeah , you can stay here for a bit.” Darryl replied. The pair walked in and stood by the counter and started with their homework 

“We were about to take a walk around the site with Karl but I guess we can do homework.” Nick told the boys, trying to persuade them to go on a walk too. “Well, me and Gogy have done enough walking today - we’ve walked all around the site twice and we’ve been out for food.” Clay explained. “Why do you all keep on calling me ‘Gogy’?” George asked in a slightly irritated tone. “I dunno, just funnier to say than your real name.” Clay responded casually as Nick let them into his room to start on homework. A few minutes later, Nick was sitting on his bed, clearly bored, “right… Well, I’m not gonna leave Karl waiting. Feel free to join us if you want.” he huffed as he walked over to the door. “I’ll come with you.” George stood up to join him at the door. “George, you must be so tired.” Clay looked worried. “It’s good for me. Also, I used to go on a lot of walks back in London so I’m used to it.” George reassured. “Why are you bothered anyway?” George asked. “I- you- you’re just new and I’m your roommate. I don’t wanna get in trouble if you pass out or something.” Clay lied. “Ok… well, do you wanna join us?” “nah… I think I’ll stay here.” Clay concluded. Nick and George walked out of the room, George trailing slightly behind the taller boy. 

“There’s something between you and George.” Darryl said out of the blue. Clay turned away from his computer to face his friend. He knew what he was talking about - he just didn’t want to mention it. “What do you mean?” Clay asked dumbly. “You know exactly what I mean, Clay.” Darryl was good with stuff like this. “Ok… you got me. It’s just- he’s a nice person. He always puts other people first. He actually cares about his friends. He doesn’t care about what other people think of him and his interests.” Clay explained, “he just likes being himself.” he finished. “I understand… Do you want me to help you with anything?” Darryl offered. “Umm… yeah, can you- can you just- I dunno, just try and make things work between me and George somehow and if he doesn’t want anything more than friendship, don’t force him. Just give small hints or something.” Clay asked as politely as he could. 

“Ok… well, I’ll try my best.” Darryl couldn’t promise anything. He had done this before, and it had worked. But that was with a few people in the year below him and he didn’t know either of them personally. This was his best friend which meant that this was going to be a challenge, “but I can’t promise anything. I’ve only done this once so don’t expect anything too… amazing?” Darryl was struggling to find the right word. “I know what you mean. And it’s ok if you can’t sort anything out. I know you’ll try your best.” Clay gave his friend a grateful smile before turning back to his computer to continue with his unfinished homework he had abandoned a few minutes earlier. 

“Hello Karl,” George started “sorry we’re late… Clay was being difficult.” Nick finished with a sigh. “Oh, what was it this time..?” Clearly things like this had happened before. “HEY GUYS!” George recognised that voice. Before he could turn around he heard, “honk off Tommy.” Great. “Hey, I heard you play Minecraft Gogy.” Suddenly George began to panic. “Uh…” “yeah, he does. So do we. why are you so interested?” Nick asked spitefully. “I just wanted to know if he’d like to play with me and Tubbo sometime. Nothing bad with being nice, is there?” The younger boy asked with a smug look on his face. “I… I prefer playing it with my friends.” George admitted quietly while staring at his shoes. 

“What are you playing?” Nick turned around with his eyes shut tightly. Once he had turned around, he opened one of his eyes and saw a 19 year old with a guitar strapped to his back. “Hey Wil…” Nick said through another sigh. “We’re talking about… Minecraft.” Nick admitted shamefully. “Why can’t you let the child join you?” Wilbur asked, adding a quiet laugh on the end. George was starting to panic even more. He didn’t want to be bullied for stupid things like a game or his glasses. “Can… can you  _ just  _ leave us alone.” Nick said - he sounded exhausted. “Whatever.” Wilbur walked away and sat back under the tree he was under before he went to pester Nick, George and Karl. “HEY TUBBO?!” Tommy shouted behind him. A few seconds later, the shorter boy came running to his side. “Get the book.” Tommy asked quietly. Tubbo whipped out a notebook that scruffily read ‘37 reasons to play Minecraft with Tommy and Tubbo’ Nick sighed and pulled George and Karl by the arms to get away from the younger boys in front of him but they continued to talk to them. “Tubbo, you know what to do.” Tommy said quietly. “Number one!” Tubbo began, almost shouting, “Tommy may be British, but he is a very funny man!” Nick thought of something - “you mean a very funny child.” he corrected. 

Tommy ignored him and signalled Tubbo to continue reading. “Two! Tubbo is also funny! He makes stupi- wait, what?” Tubbo read the second reason - ‘He makes stupid jokes.’ Tubbo tries rereading the line but it just says the same thing. “You alright man?” Tommy asked. “Y-you said my jokes are stupid.” At the sudden rise of distraction, Nick pulled Karl and George away and continued their walk. “Uhm… george… are you and Clay like… friends?” Nick asked hesitantly. “Yeah, why?” George responded. “You- he just acts really different around you than he does around us.” George had no idea what he was talking about. “What do you mean?” “oh, come on. Haven’t you noticed? He’s so  _ obvious _ .” Nick sounded like he was teasing George. “I- I haven’t noticed. I have no idea what you’re talking about…” George trailed off. “Well… do you… do you like him?” Nick asked in the nicest way possible. “Wha- uh… I’m not sure. He’s nice I guess. He doesn’t hate me to say the least…” George stuttered. 

“Do you want me to help you with anything?” Nick asked. George knew exactly what he was talking about. 

  
  


“Yes.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: HOLY CRAP this was a drag to write. Online school is annoying and my other hobbies are still interesting. I've got a piano now so I guess I play piano now too- anyway, sorry this is a bit late. I try to get one chapter of this out on a Thursday (uk time) and Christmas Visitors every other Sunday (uk time) hope you enjoyed
> 
> -Clara


	5. Rivals And A Second Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George and Clay get invited to another party.

“Go and join Karl, Nick and George on their walk. That’s the only piece of advice I can give for now.” Darryl needed time to think about this; he wanted things to be perfect for his friend. “I’m worn out; I’ve been walking all day.” Dream whined. “Look, do you want to be close with George or not? This clearly isn’t gonna work if you’re gonna be difficult with it.” Darryl sighed. Dream got up and left the room in response to Darryl’s advice. He walked down the hall towards the door but a certain pink-haired boy caught his eye from the side of the crowded corridor. It was Techno. He was towering over a much smaller boy.

He decided to walk up and see what was going on this time. Clay casually traveled over to see who Techno was pinning this time; It happened so frequently, it was just routine to see who it was under his grip and help them depending on who the subject was. This time it was a small boy with chocolate-coloured hair, brown eyes and a blue jumper. Then Clay realized. It was George. He looked to the side of the scene and saw Karl and Nick cowering by some other lockers. They were way smaller than Techno. Clay decided maybe George would like him more if he saved him.

That was until a pair of boys, one clearly smaller than the other, came walking quickly towards Techno. Clay recognised them but he couldn’t put a finger on where he had seen them. “Well, butter my biscuit. Mumbo, we got another one on the locker. They look new.” the shorter boy sighed in an angry sounding British accent. He walked closer to Techno with the taller boy and stepped in front of George, parting the tallest from its victim. “Stop pinning people to the locker, will you?” the shortest half-shouted. “What do you have against me?” Techno asked with a smug grin on his face. The other stepped forward. “G, Mumbo is half a foot shorter than me, you’re gonna wanna try harder to make me scared.” ‘G’ looked to the side and saw Clay standing there, wide eyed. He signaled him to come and step in. Clay immediately took the offer to stand up for George and ran straight towards the four standing around the locker.

“Step away from George.” Clay ordered with a dead look on his face. Techno immediately dropped the small boy and turned to face Clay. George fell to the floor and it was only then that Clay realized George had tears streaming down his face. Techno had to look down slightly to look at Clay in the eye. Before Clay could speak up, a teacher came speed walking down the hall. “What’s going on this time?” he sighed as he put his hands between the two boys to part them. “Techno pinned George to the locker.” Clay said. He knew it sucked to snitch but he just said it out of spite. “Techno, leave people alone, you’ll be in a detention for an hour.” the teacher ordered. “I’m sorry Mr Philza.” Techno muttered, staring at the floor. Before they headed to Philza’s classroom, Techno shot Clay an angry look.

Clay sighed as he saw the pair disappear around the corner. “Are you ok?” the British boy from earlier asked George. “Umm, yeah. Thanks for asking.” George said as he winced at the bruise on his arm. “I’m Grian. This is Mumbo.” Grian pointed to the much taller boy next to him. “Uhh, nice to meet you.” George was still on the floor when he realized Clay was still there. He gave a weak smile to him before he looked at the purple bruise on his arm again. “This is a terrible way to start at a new college.” Clay slightly laughed as he walked towards George to help him up.

A few seconds after George was on his feet, Mr Philza came rushing down the hall. “George! Are you alright?” He asked, sounding mildly panicked. “Yes, thanks.” George replied with a half-hearted smile. “Do you need anything?” Phil asked, the panicked look remaining on his face. “No, I think I’ll head back to my room, sir.” George sighed. “Ok, tell me if this happens again or if something similar happens.” The teacher ordered. “I will.” George nodded and Phil turned on his heel and started to walk back to his classroom to watch over Techno in his detention.

“I came here to join you on your walk with Karl and- where are Karl and Nick?” Clay looked around. “Oh, they had to go and talk to some teacher about grades.” George informed Clay. “should we wait for them to come back?” George asked. “Yeah… they can’t be too long talking about grades.” they stood in an awkward silence. “Umm… how did you end up pinned to the locker?” Clay asked, hesitating. “Oh, there was another guy pinned and he looked pretty young so I thought I would help him.” George said with a smile “Do you know who they were?” Clay had been at the school for a long time and knew that helping people escape Techno isn’t a good idea. “He told me his name was Oli and he sings songs sometimes. He told me his stage name was TheOrionSound.” Clay knew exactly who he was talking about. “Yeah, if you see anyone being pinned to a locker by Techno, don’t try to help them. You’ll probably end up getting yourself in bother.” Clay sighed. “It’s bad to just stand and watch it you know.” George said, a frown forming on his face.

Before the other could reply, the pair heard a shout coming towards them. “ME PERDONAS?” Clay sighed as he watched Karl, Nick and another slightly smaller boy walk out from the crowd. Once they reached Clay and George, the smallest began conversation, “Ayy, man!” Clay put his head in his hands as George just stood there, confused. “Who are you?” George tilted his head to one side. “This is the legend himself, Alex, but he likes being called Quackity.” Karl presented. “Oh, Uhm… hi Quackity, I’m George.” George introduced himself, “Uhh, should we carry on walking now?” George asked. “Sure, while we walk, you can talk to Quackity… maybe you can knock some sense into him.” Clay wheezed at the end. George rolled his eyes at the taller boy and started walking. “So, Uhh… how have you been Quackity?” Clay asked hesitantly. “I’ve been great. Oh, does anyone know where Darryl is? I have a joke.” He replied. Karl and Nick looked at each other with worried faces. “No…” Nick lied. He had seen him earlier on his way out of the classroom he was inconveniently dragged into.

“Oh, it was a really funny joke too. Anyway, I’m hosting a party with Zak tonight, anyone wanna come?” Quackity offered. Clay’s heart rate went up significantly at the mention of a party. “Uhm, I can’t go.” Clay spluttered out quickly. “Why?” George looked at him with a confused look; he knew he wasn’t busy tonight. “I-I have homework.” Clay lied. “We spent ages on homework already today…” Nick trailed off. “I’ll definitely go.” George stepped up. Like he said before: he wants to make more friends; he didn’t have many yet. “Yeah, we’ll come too.” Karl added excitedly. “Come on Clay… it’s another party! I don’t want to go alone.” George begged. Clay sighed. He didn’t want the same thing that happened the night before to happen tonight. “Look, man, Clay, Dream-” Quackity was cut off by George, “Dream?” Clay then remembered he had never told George about his nickname. “Oh, yeah, some people call me Dream because of some stupid joke.” Clay explained.

“OI! CLAY! I GOT SOME REASONS FOR YOU TO COME TO MY PARTY!” Quackity shouted in a terrible British accent. “Go on.” Clay challenged. “Ok, so, reason one, we got the good stuff.” Quackity began. “Oh? What’s the ‘good stuff’ Quackity?” Clay pushed. “Tacos, my friend. We have tacos. Many tacos.” Quackity walked up to Clay’s side and whispered, “you could end up reeling someone in in a lucky game of truth or dare.” he gave an obvious sign he was talking about George. “Ok, that’s just weird.” Clay muttered, laughing. “You’re not denying it though.” Quackity gave a smug look to Clay before giving the same look to George. “What?” George asked. “Nothing, nothing Georgie…” Clay trailed off, still laughing. “Uh… we got music, food, people.” Quackity finished. “Please Clay!” George looked up at Clay with a hopeful look on his face. “Ok, I’ll come. Just- don’t make it like last time. Also, who’s on the invite list?” Clay asked, hoping for it to be just a few people. “Anyone and everyone!” Quackity announced with confidence. Clay started to internally panic. He hated being around a lot of people.

“Sounds great.” He lied. “So you’re coming?” George asked hopefully. “Yes I’m going.” Clay replied. “WOOO!” George shouted. “I guess it’s only fair… I left the other party halfway through and left you on your own, George.” Clay admitted. “Alright! I guess I’ll be seeing you three at seven after me and Karl have finished preparing.” Quackity concluded.

The crowd around them was thinning out as the day went on and they continued to talk. Karl and Quackity soon left to prep for the party. This left Nick, George and Clay standing in the hall along with the other two or three other groups remaining. Clay was worrying about the party. He kept repeating the phrase over and over in his head: _anyone and everyone!_ Quackity had said that day. He hated a lot of people in his college. He looked around in panic and saw Zak and Darryl head up the stairs that lead to Karl and Quackity’s dorm. He let out a sigh of relief; at least some other people he knew were attending.

But he still felt worried about something. _George was so oblivious. He didn’t know a lot of people and would probably mess up his first impression._ Clay looked at George and saw he was smiling and was probably looking forward to the party. “Uh, should we go and prepare for the party as well?” Clay asked. He was mainly looking for an excuse to go back to his dorm and sit down for once, but he also didn’t want to go to the party in old and unwashed clothes. “Sure.” George started to walk towards the stairs. “I’ll see you at the party!” Nick waved as he headed off in a different direction to his own dorm.

Clay and George stood in their dorm in silence. “Do you have anything to wear?” George asked. “Pff, of course I have things to wear.” Clay laughed. “I mean anything formal. Anything you could wear to a party sort of thing.” George tried to explain. “Oh, yeah… I mean, I have a shirt somewhere… and I can just wear denim pants or something.” Clay told the smaller boy. “Denim pants.” George mimicked Clay in a terrible American accent. Clay wheezed “What!? Ok, what do you call them then?” He held back a laugh. “Jeans.” George stated. This just made Clay wheeze even more. “What? I’m from _England_! I just say stuff like that!” George argued, on the brink of bursting out with laughter. “Why are we still messing around? C’mon Georgie, we need to get ready for the party.” Clay continued to laugh as he headed over to his drawers to search for his single button up shirt he had put away a while ago. He pulled it out after a few minutes of searching and saw George standing on the opposite side of the room in a pair of skinny black jeans, a white button up shirt with a loose blue tie and a thin black cardigan.

“Hurry up, we’re gonna be late.” George complained in an annoying tone on purpose. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took a long time to write and is a bit late to publishing but I think it was a pretty exciting chapter! hope you enjoyed! -Clara


	6. The Second Party And A Re-lived Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay re-lives his dream

Clay quickly got dressed before the pair walked out the door together and walked down the hall to where they heard loud music coming from. Before either of them knocked on the door, George looked up, signaling Clay to knock on the door. After a few seconds of hesitance, Clay knocked. They walked in and immediately tried to navigate their way to Nick, Karl and Quackity. Before they saw the group they were looking for, Clay spotted Darryl and Zak. “Hey guys, can you keep an eye on George while I look for Nick?” Clay asked. “I’m not a child, Clay, I can be trusted on my own you know.” George folded his arms. “Yeah, well you’re small. You might get lost.” Clay stated before walking away to find the others. 

“You two won’t mind if I go off and try to find Karl would you?” George gave the pair in front of him a black look. Darryl and Zak looked at each other before Zak just shrugged, to which George walked away. 

George pushed through the crowds of people who somehow all managed to fit into Quackity’s dorm. George managed to find many familiar people, but no one who was familiar enough. Then it eventually came to George that he was lost. He was lost in the sea of colourfully dressed young adults and he was too short to see over all the people surrounding him. He looked around frantically for anyone he knew even if it was Grian or Mumbo. Then he saw a few people he knew next to him. He decided to stay with them until he saw Clay. 

Clay ran through the crowd scanning the ocean of heads for a particularly small brown-haired boy. After about a minute of searching he gave in and started heading back to Karl and Nick. Quackity had gone off to meet some other guests. “I’ve lost him… he’s not with Darryl and Zak anymore.” He sighed. “Well, we’ll wait five minutes and if he doesn’t show up, we’ll all go looking for him.” Nick assured his friend. During the five long minutes, Clay continued to scan the crowd. “THERE!” Clay went almost sprinting into the crowd after the brunette he had spotted. When he got close enough, he saw the people George was standing with. 

Niki and Wilbur.

“George?” Clay slowly approached the group. After he had called his friends’ name, Niki shot Clay an annoyed look. After a few seconds, George turned around and saw Clay standing in front of him. “Oh, hi Clay!” George said in an over-cheerful tone. “Uhm… are you ok, George?” Clay could tell something was wrong. “Yeah, I’m fine… I was panicking because I couldn’t find you but I found Niki and Wilbur so I decided to stay with them until I saw you.” George explained. “Come on George, we need to get back to Karl and Nick.” Clay muttered as he dragged George by the arm, pulling him over to the side of the room he had just come from. 

“Found him.” Clay said to the two boys with a smile. “Gogy!” Karl half-shouted. Clay smiled and continued scanning the crowd - this time for Quackity. While he was searching, he saw a girl who looked really familiar. “Hey Clay” she said, dragging out the ‘y’. “Isla..?” Clay hadn’t talked to his girlfriend in person for a while. “Mhm!” Isla looked up at Clay. George took in the conversation Clay was having with the girl. He started to feel a twisting feeling in his stomach. Slowly, Isla drew closer to Clay. “Clay… can w-” George was cut off by the action in front of him - Isla was so close to Clay and was about to kiss him. Clay backed away when he realised just how close the girl was. “I’m… I’m sorry, Isla, can we talk?” Clay pointed to the door that led out of the dorm. 

Once they had got outside, Isla sighed. “I know you like that George, you know.” She said in a soft voice. “I’m so, so sorry, Isla…” Clay tried to apologise. “Oh! No, it’s fine! I’m not bothered. You can like whoever you want and I’ll support you with it.” Isla gave Clay a reassuring smile. “Thanks, Isla… so I guess we’re not dating anymore?” Clay asked hesitantly.  _ Did he really want to do this? _ “If that’s what you want.” Isla didn’t want to pressure Clay into doing anything he didn’t want to do. “I guess I’ve been too ignorant. We never talk so it would make sense if we did… go our separate ways.” The two stood in silence before Clay thanked Isla for the support and started heading for the stairs at the end of the hall. 

Once Clay had left Isla’s vision, George walked out, clearly in search of his friend. “Hey Isla… have you seen Clay anywhere?” George didn’t like talking to Isla but if it meant that he could find his friend, then he would. “He went up those stairs. Probably to go up to the roof.” She gave an apologetic look to George as she finished with “me and Clay aren’t dating anymore by the way. It was mainly his decision.” George nodded and headed up the stairs that Clay had walked up about two minutes ago. 

==========

It was almost supernaturally hot at the party. The air passed Clay’s face coldly as he ran up the stairs. This was the opposite of how he expected the party to go. What seemed like a few minutes later, Clay felt tears stream down his face.  _ Why am I crying!? I literally accepted the break up!  _ Eventually, Clay found the end of the staircase and saw the door that hid the rooftop. He walked over to the metal fence that wrapped around the brim of the tall building. He looked over and saw lights. So many lights. Colours swimming in the windows of the other buildings consisted of green, purple, blue and a yellowish white. He saw cars rushing below him like a river full of fish. He felt a cool rush of wind make the tear streams on his face freeze. He took in the amazing view and breathed in the cool night air. 

After a few peaceful seconds, he heard the door squeak behind him. He unstuck his eyes from the city below him and saw a dark figure walk towards him. He didn’t know who they were at first but soon enough, the shadows fell off the dark figure to reveal his roommate. “George?” Clay wanted to make sure it was definitely him. “Yeah?” he heard a British accent reply. “What are you doing here?” Clay really wanted to go back to his dorm but a gut feeling glued him to the floor. “I was looking for you, Clay.”  George rarely mentions his name. Clay never got to hear how it perfectly rolled off his tongue in the British accent.

George came closer to Clay, to the point he was right in front of him, looking up; he was about a foot shorter than Clay. He stood there, looking down at the shorter boy, wide eyed. “W-what's going on?” Clay could feel the heat rise to his face. 'Why are you crying?' George looked worried. Clay hated that. “I- it doesn't matter.” Clay reassured the smaller boy “it's fine, I'm fine.” he continued. George clearly wasn't buying it. He wiped the small stream of salty water off Clay's face with his thumb. “Tell me what's wrong.” George demanded. Clay heard the seriousness in his voice. He decided to tell George the truth. “I broke up with my girlfriend.” he admitted. “We had been dating for two years.” George had never truly loved someone before but felt like he could sympathize with him. “She was ignorant.” Clay had something else weighing down on his mind but he couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. “I'm also not really into girls anymore I guess.” that was it. “You're not?” George could feel a twisting feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Yeah... they're all the same... make up, short dresses, worried about their look more than anything else.” Clay felt safe talking to George about things like this. 

“I thought I should have told you sooner or later but I prefer boys over girls.” George stood there, the light of the city below shining onto his face. The dim light of the moon slightly lit up the pavement floor of the rooftop. The pair stood in silence as the cars shouted below them. Slowly, they grew closer without realising. “You know, I like people who actually care about their friends.” Clay mentioned out of the blue. Then something hit him. A feeling of… Deja vu? He wasn't sure. “Hey, George..?” Clay’s Heart was pounding as if he had just run a marathon. “Yeah?” George replied in his British accent. “Uhh… have you ever had a crush on anyone?” Clay asked hesitantly, trying to be careful with his words. “Yeah… I have actually.” George eventually admitted. Clay started to get dizzy. What if he didn’t live up to his expectations?  _ What if George didn’t like me as much as he liked his ‘crush’?  _ “I hope you don’t mind me asking… who was it?” Clay waited impatiently for a response. “I still have a crush on this guy… and I’m not sure if he likes me back…” George trailed off. “I’m sure they do.” Clay reassured. George blushed before he admitted, “It’s you.” then Clay realised: this is almost exactly what happened in his  _ dream. _ He had decided it wasn’t a nightmare. 

Clay fought back the urge to kiss him right then and there, in front of the crowd of skyscrapers which hung above the sea of cars. George looked to his left to look at the wonderful sight of coloured lights and rushing cars again. A few seconds later, he looked back up at Clay, his eyes reflecting the light the buildings produced. He giggled then just said “I'm glad I came up here looking for you…” before he closed the already small gap between the two. 

But this time, Clay didn’t wake up. Instead he stood there, eyes shut, in front of the most colourful assortment of lights, kissing his best friend. When George pulled away, Clay opened his eyes again and looked down at George. “I’m sorry… was I supposed to do that?” George asked with a slight smile on his face. “Yes. you were supposed to do that.” Clay responded, attempting to hold back a laugh. “We should probably head back to our dorm.” Clay suggested, still smiling. “What about the party?” George didn’t want to be rude and just leave without warning. “We can apologise to everyone tomorrow. Come on, I’m tired.” Clay and George silently walked back to their room, passing Isla on their way. Clay exchanged a grateful smile with her and they continued walking. 

When George got through the door, he threw off his cardigan and jumped onto the sofa to put a film on. Once the film had started, Clay joined him on the sofa and watched the movie as well. “Aren’t you tired?” George looked at Clay with a worried look on his face. “I’ll probably fall asleep halfway through the film.” Clay reassured. George nodded and turned back to the bright screen in front of them. After about half an hour, George felt something heavy hit his shoulder which made him jump slightly. He looked to his right and saw Clay had fallen asleep. George decided to turn off the tv and try to catch up on sleep too. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this over the span of two hours with the noise of my friend in a Discord call distracting me. hopefully this chapter wasn't that bad. I'm proud of the plot though :)


	7. Piano and Blond Hair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George plays piano and gets in more trouble with Techno

George slowly lifted his eyelids to see a cloud of blond hair blocking his vision. His glasses had been discarded on the floor and his cardigan was still hanging on the end of his bed. George looks down at the hair that he woke up to and started to play with a few strands of it. After a few moments, Clay woke up too. He looked up at George who had stopped playing with his hair when he realised Clay was awake. “Morning, George.” Clay told the smaller boy happily before getting up to check the time on his alarm clock. “WHAT!?” Clay shouted from the other side of the room. “What?” George looked at Clay blankly. “It’s ten thirty! I’m late!” Clay started running around the room to gather his things for his lesson. “Stop panicking. You don’t have to go to lessons this week.” George said, still sitting on the sofa. “What’s the catch..?” Clay knew there was going to be something that stopped this being such a good thing. “You have to watch over me for the next week. To make sure I know my way around and that I make new friends and stuff.” George stated.

Clay sighed with a smile stuck to his face. “You’re sighing, but you don’t look so annoyed about it.” George was also smiling. “Yeah, I guess it’s not too bad.” Clay admitted. He went back over to the sofa and sat down, picking up the remote. Before he could turn the tv on, George pushed him off the sofa. “What was that for?” Clay was trying not to laugh. “I’m meeting up with Quackity at eleven o’clock. I don’t want you to fall asleep on me again.” George got up and headed to the set of drawers on the other side of the room that contained a large selection of hoodies and sweaters. George picked out a random hoodie and slipped it on. Before he walked out the door, Clay saw that the hoodie George was wearing didn’t belong to George. “George? Can I come with you to see Quackity?” Clay could feel heat rise to his face; the hoodie George was wearing was his. “Yeah, sure.” George walked out the door and Clay followed soon after.

“Hi Quackity!” George walked up to his new friend. “Ello, George.” Quackity mimicked George’s accent. Clay rolled his eyes as Quackity and George began to talk to each other. “Oh, I’m sorry we left early last night. Something just had to be dealt with.” George finally mentioned. “What happened?” Quackity questioned. “We-” Clay began. “We looked at the view from the roof and I helped Clay with a breakup… that's all.” George attempted not to expose what had happened yesterday. “Actually, George is lying. He kissed me yesterday.” Clay announced proudly. “Oh, well… congrats.” Quackity felt a bit awkward being a third wheel. “Little British man has a Floridan boyfriend!” Quackity shouted in his terrible British accent. Before he could continue, the bell rang, signaling the last five minutes before his next lesson started. “Oh… I’ll see you both later!” Quackity started running off down the hall to his next class.

Silence filled the hall as all of the students finished getting to their classes. “Should we go outside?” Clay offered. “Yeah.” George led the way to the front door. When they got outside, they saw two familiar people walk towards them. “Not again.” Clay put his head in his hands. “Wha- oh.” The pair of boys walking towards them had caused so much trouble already that even George knew who they were. “Hey _Dream_ ” Tommy teased. “Don’t call me that.” Clay sighed. “Oh _I’m sorry Clay_ ” Tommy put extra emphasis on ‘Clay’. “Hello Tommy.” Clay sighed. “Why are you outside? Shouldn’t you both be in your classes?” George called them out. “Uhh… yeah, but we can’t be bothered.” Tubbo admitted. “Tubbo! You shouldn’t have told them that!” Tommy whispered. “Well… Gogy, there’s still the chance to play Minecraft with me and Tubbo if you want.” Tommy reminded George and Clay about the day before. Almost the exact same thing had happened. “Yeah… I’ve decided I don’t want to join you. I’d rather play Minecraft with Clay.” George concluded as he started to walk away, dragging Clay behind him.

They started to walk back to where they came from but were stopped by two other, slightly older troublemakers. “What do you want.” Clay muttered while staring at the floor with his eyes shut. “What are you two doing out here?” Wilbur asked Clay. “I’m new and Clay has to watch over me on my first week so we get the week off work.” George said smugly. “Yeah, and we need to get back to our dorm.” Clay ended before he tried dragging George away this time. “Hey! We want to speak to George!” Clay knew Wilbur was onto something. “No. We’re busy.” Clay continued to walk. “But George is our friend.” Niki spoke up. “Just fuck off.” Clay shouted behind him eventually. Wilbur rolled his eyes and started walking away, Niki following not far behind.

“Uhm… I have something to show you.” George started to lead the way back to their dorm. “What is it?” Clay was still annoyed by Wilbur and Niki. “you’ll see…” George continued to walk in the direction of the tall building. When they got inside, the halls were empty and peaceful. Their footsteps echoed through the corridor until they reached the wooden stairs. They ran up the wooden planks until they had reached the level their dorm was on. They walked inside and George headed over to a particularly large bag. He pulled out a meter-long keyboard and set it on the kitchen table.

“When did you get this?!” Clay hadn’t seen George walk in with it on his first day. “Since I came here.” George replied as though the boy in front of him was dumb. “I can play a few songs… can I play you one now?” George looked up at his friend with a hopeful glint in his eyes. “Yeah, sure.” Clay sat down to listen to the boy in front of him play a song. He started off by pressing the white keys with the letters ‘G, F, E’ plastered to the middle of each white strip. Clay continued to watch as the boy in front of him pressed the keys to make a beautiful tune. After about three minutes, George ended the song on a long C. He looked up at Clay, hoping for a positive reaction. “Woah… that was really good.” Clay stated, wide eyed. “Yeah… I made a few mistakes but I guess it wasn’t too bad.” George responded. “What song is that?” Clay asked. “Uhm… It’s called Mr Loverman.” George mumbled; he didn’t like sharing his taste in music with many people.

“I’ll listen to it later.” Clay opened his phone and typed ‘Mr Loverman’ into the search bar and saved it to a playlist called ‘pog songs’. Once he had done that, he turned to George, smiled, then got up to make some food. “Um… Clay… can we talk about the party last night?” George was hesitant while asking this; he wasn’t sure if the whole thing was real. Unfortunately for Clay, that was the one question he had been avoiding all day. “Uhh… I guess we both kind of mentally agreed that was the right thing to do… the lights were pretty cool too I guess.” Clay tried to keep the conversation from being awkward. “Yeah… but what happened with you and Isla?” George questioned. “Well… she knew I liked- she knew I liked you so she said it was for the best…” Clay tried to explain. “You do..?” George looked up at Clay with wide eyes. “Yeah… I should have told you sooner.” “Clay, you’ve been my roommate for like, three days. I don’t blame you for not telling you sooner.” George reassured.

“Mhm…” Clay looked like he was in deep thought. “So, what does that make us?” Clay wasn’t sure if he should have asked. “I guess friends for now. Until we feel comfortable with anything else at least.” George decided. “Ok… also, will you ever tell your parents about people not being nice to you? Like, Techno and stuff… seeing as he pinned you to that locker the other day.” Clay asked. “No… they’ll just send me back to England. I’m happy here.” George didn’t want to think about going back home so early. “Oh… well, if people still don’t treat you as they should, you need to tell someone. Even if it’s Mr Philza.” Clay didn’t want George either, but if it meant he wouldn’t be bullied so much, he was willing to let him go. “Ok…” George concluded. With that, the bell rang, signaling the time as 12:30. “I’m going to see Nick and Karl for lunch. Feel free to come along.” George took his jacket off the hook on the back of the door and started to head out. “I’ll stay here.” Clay didn’t want to seem too clingy.

George ran down the stairs and speed walked to the canteen. He didn’t want to be caught in any trouble with Techno or Tommy. He walked past the lockers he had been stuck to a day before. “Hey Geooorge.” He heard a familiar voice from his right. He turned around and saw a slightly taller, blond boy in a red and white raglan t-shirt. “What do you want, Tommy.” George sighed. “Minecraft. With me and Tubbo. You need to join us.” Tommy demanded. “Or what?” George replied blankly. “I’ll get my brother to tell you.” a few people who were listening in on the conversation drew slightly closer. They all knew who Tommy was talking about. “Ok… I’m going to get my lunch.” George started to walk away but before he could walk two steps in the opposite direction, he felt a large hand on his shoulder. “What now?!” George half-shouted before turning around and seeing a boy who was at least two feet taller than him and had pink hair. “Uhh… I’m sorry… I really need to go.” George tried to escape but was stuck to the spot.

“Tommy’s my brother.” Techno stated. “YEAH! I GOT THE BLAAADE!” Tommy shouted childishly. “Look, I understand you’re very tall and probably wayyy more powerful than me… that being said, I’m not worth much… I’m just a guy trying to get decent grades and get a good job so _please_ leave me alone.” George begged. “No.” Techno started walking, George still under his grip. As George was being dragged down the hall, he tried holding back tears. They weren’t because he was sad… he was panicking. If this got worse, he would have to tell someone about it.

And he didn’t want to go back to England.

“Please let me go…” George cried. He sighed in relief when he saw Philza’s classroom just a few doors down but started freaking out again when he wasn’t inside. He got further and further down the hall when he reached the canteen where he saw Nick and Karl looking around in circles for him. “NICK!” George shouted from where he was, hoping the pair would hear him. A wave of relief washed over him as he saw Karl and Nick quickly look in his direction. They started to panic when they saw George being dragged by Techno. “GEORGE!” Karl started to push through the crowd, pulling Nick with him by the hand to help him when they confront Techno. George continued to quietly cry as he was pulled across the linoleum floor of the canteen.

Clay could hear more shouting coming from the staircase than usual. He started getting worried when he figured the shouting could have something to do with George but he stopped when he remembered there were another two thousand people at his college so it could be about anyone. He eventually decided he should go down and check what it was anyway. When he reached the bottom of the staircase, his walk turned into a slow jog as he heard George’s name being called. Then he saw not only George pinned to the locker, but Karl as well. “HEY!” Clay called to Techno. The crowd went silent very quickly as Clay walked towards Techno. 


	8. More Problems Than One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George gets pinned to the locker again and Clay persuades him to tell his parents about the problems.

“GO AWAY DREAM!” Techno shouted. “No! Help me Clay! He’s like, two times my size!” Nick overexaggerated. Clay walked over to Techno to face him properly. “Stop.” Clay demanded. He looked at the two boys who were trapped under Techno’s grip, giving them worried looks. At this, George began to panic. “Please let us go…” George tried asking, but was ignored. Techno looked to his right to check for any teachers who could interfere. “You know what? I think I’ll leave them to you.” Techno sighed and walked off to blend into the crowd. “Wha-” Clay was cut off by another voice, “Clay… I thought you were friends with George and Karl?” Philza’s voice was heard from behind Clay. he immediately turned around and saw his teacher standing right infront of him. And he looked pissed. “Sir, Clay has had them pinned for about twenty minutes now.” Techno stood in.

The crowd knew he was wrong but they were all just scared to correct Techno. “Is this true, Techno?” Philza questioned. “Yes, sir.” he replied. “Clay, can you come with me to my office, along with George, Karl, Nick and Techno?” Philza looked at all the boys. “Sure…” Clay sighed as he looked back at George and Nick who were giving Techno annoyed faces. Clay looked down at the floor as he walked down the silent yet busy hall. “I’m sorry.” George’s voice was heard from behind him. “You didn’t do anything, it’s fine.” Clay reassured, still looking at the ground. Once the group had reached Philza’s office, they all took a seat in front of his desk.

“Clay, I want you to tell me what happened. “He-” “Techno, I was asking Clay, not you.” Philza sighed as if this had happened more than once. “Well, I was in my room… I heard shouting coming from the hall and I knew George was down there so I thought it had something to do with him and I didn't want him getting hurt so I went down to check what it was and…” Clay finished ranting when Phil asked George what happened after Clay had gone downstairs. “Techno had me and Nick on the locker so everyone was shouting at him to stop… that was when I saw Clay coming down the stairs. He tried to tell Techno to stop but it didn’t work. Then Techno saw you coming down the hall so he framed Clay for it.” George explained. Phil looked around at the boys. Nick and Karl were sitting separate from Techno, George and Clay. They were looking at each other in disbelief at all the ranting.

“Is this true, Karl?” Philza asked. “Huh? Oh… yeah, Clay did nothing wrong.” Karl agreed. “Ok… Nick? Is this the same with you?” Phil asked again. “Yeah.” Nick replied, sighing. “Ok, Techno, it’s four against one. I don’t think it was Clay who had them on that locker in the first place, was it?” Phil sighed. “No sir.” Techno replied in defeat “I’m sorry.” “this is the second time this week, Techno!” Philza half-shouted. “You four can go while I talk to Techno.” The oldest gestured to Nick, Clay, George and Karl to leave the room. The four looked at each other before they got up and started to head out of the room. “Have any of you eaten yet?” Clay hoped the answer to be a no; he wanted to go out somewhere and get something more interesting that the food they have at the college to eat.

“No.” George replied. “I can take everyone to a nice restaurant if you all want.” Clay offered. “Yeah, that would be good.” Karl looked at the time and realised they wouldn’t have enough time, “actually, could you get a takeaway or something? We only have twenty minutes before the bell goes and by that time, we would have just sat down in the restaurant.” Karl asked hesitantly. “Yeah, George can come with me if he wants.” Clay looked over to George with a hopeful look. “Yeah, I’ll come along… I’m a bit bored anyway.” George started to follow Clay out the door when they passed Techno who was walking next to Phil and Tommy. Clay shot the tallest an angry look before walking out the door and towards the car park.

Once they had got into Clay’s car, the tallest started conversation, “you know you’ll have to tell your parents at some point.” George looked up at him with a confused look. “What do you mean?” “About Techno, Tommy, Tubbo, Wil and Niki. They all give you a hard time.” Clay reminded George of the past few days. “Oh, yeah… I’m not sure.” George replied, “I don’t want to move back to England…” George trailed off. He had mentioned this before. He didn’t want to leave his new friends. George sat there looking at his phone in silence as Clay continued driving. Once they got to the restaurant, Clay ordered the food while George was still silent. “You need to tell someone, you know.” Clay mentioned again. “Yeah, not now though.” George sounded annoyed. “Sorry…” the silence greeted them again until they had got back to the college and had met up with Nick and Karl.

“Food!” Karl shouted at Nick as he began to run towards Clay and George. Nick got up too and started to walk behind Karl. “We’re back!” Clay half-shouted. The four headed over to a free table and started to eat. After a few minutes, Quackity came along and sat at the table too. “HEY!” Nick shouted after he realised Quackity was stealing his food. George was in a bad mood but he failed to hold back a laugh. “Don’t be so rude Nick! Let poor Quackity have your food.” George teased. “nO! Quackity! Get off!” Nick continued to shout as the boy next to him continued to steal his food. Quackity looked at the clock on the wall and decided to get off Nick’s food. The bell rang as soon as he sat back. “Great timing.” Nick sighed.

The three boys with a class scheduled walked off into the moving crowd while Clay and George stayed at the table while they waited for the crowd to die down. “Wanna go on a walk?” George offered. Clay was glad he had lightened up a bit; he wasn’t happy in the car earlier. “Yeah.” they both got up and started walking to the door for what felt like the thousandth time that week. Clay looked across the field to check if it was empty and saw two boys on the other side screaming and running around. It was obviously Tommy and Tubbo. Clay sighed and started to lead George over to them. “What’s going on over there?” George laughed. “I have no idea but we’re going to see.” Clay continued to walk closer to the sixteen year old's on the other side of the field.

“TUBBO! GET IT OFF MY SHOULDER!” Tommy had a bee on his shoulder and another swarm of about five chasing after him. “Chill out! They’re just bees!” Tubbo tried to stop Tommy running but failed. “TUBBO! HELP!” the smaller boy walked over to the tallest and gently took the bee off his shoulder. The swarm of now six bees flew away to a hive in one of the nearby trees. “God, you know how much I hate bees, Tubbo.” Tommy sighed. “What’s going on?” Clay asked once he got closer enough to talk to the boys. “Why are you always here?” Tommy had had enough of Clay. “We just wanted to go on a walk again… there’s nothing better to do anyway.” George shrugged. “You two act really strange around each other, you know that?” Tommy asked in his British accent. “We do?” George and Clay both asked in unison. “Yeah, Tommy’s right. You used to be really quiet and sad, Clay.” Tubbo spoke up. “I wasn’t sad!” Clay stepped back. “Yeah, well, you never talked to us.” Tommy finished. “Anyway, what are you both doing out here during classes again?” Clay went back to being annoying. “We couldn’t be bothered.” That was Tommy’s excuse for everything. “Alright, me and George are gonna go. We _can’t be bothered_ to talk to you.” George laughed and followed his friend to one of the trees that loomed over a bench.

George took the spot on the right and Clay filled the space to the left of his friend. “I know this is annoying but… you need to tell your parents about the bullying.” Clay reminded George. “I’ll tell them when we get back to our dorm later. Also, I don’t want to have to go back to England. I’ve made so many good friends here. It would only be worse if I was to go somewhere where I don’t have any friends.” George tried negotiating. “I suppose you have got quite a lot of friends here already…” Clay realised, “but you can’t just keep something like this a secret. You need to tell someone that isn’t just a teacher.” Clay advised. “Ok… when we get back, I’ll call my mum and tell her about what happened.” George gave in. “Thank you.” Clay sighed. The pair sat on the bench and watched as cars rushed past in silence for the next five minutes.

“I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me, George.” Clay broke the silence. “Hmm?” George turned to face his friend. “About why you don’t want to leave.” Clay replied dumbly. “Oh… I guess I just don’t want to leave you… you’re the first person who was actually nice to me the first time we met.” George looked at the floor as he talked, “everyone else would just call me an attention seeker for my glasses… but you didn’t care about them. Thank you…” George trailed off. “You- ok… that’s not a good enough reason. If you’re being bullied or harassed and your parents tell you to move back to England, then you need to move back.” Clay concluded. “But what about all my other friends?” George started to panic; he didn’t want to leave. “Then they’ll just have to accept it and let you leave.” Clay was fed up with this conversation that had been repeated so many times.

“If I do have to go back… will we still be able to talk to each other?” George asked. “Yeah. we can play Minecraft together, we can Discord call… do you have Discord?” Clay ranted. “Yeah…” George was cut off by Clay’s talking. “Then we can talk on that… and you have my number so you can just text me. I can also ask Karl and Nick for their numbers for you as well-” “Clay, I appreciate it, but I think you’re taking it too far. You sound like you’ve gone mad.” George cut his friend off this time. “Ok… we’ll figure it out closer to the time.” Clay ended. “How about we go back inside? It’s too hot out here.” George got up to start walking. “Ok.” Clay got up and let the smaller boy lead him to their dorm. The halls were silent and their footsteps echoed.

“It’s so quiet in the halls when everyone is in their classes.” George stated. “Well, obviously. The only noise that isn’t our own footsteps is Tommy and Tubbo shouting at each other while they skip class.” Clay laughed. “Yeah…” George laughed as well. They walked in silence until they got to the end of the hall and met the stairs. “Remember to call your parents when we get back.” George was reminded of the thing he was dreading the most. “Yeah… I’ll do that.” George replied, staring at the ground. Before he knew it, they were already at the door and Clay was unlocking it with his key. George slowly walked in the room and took his phone out of his pocket. Clay watched until George started dialing in the numbers. The phone waited until someone on the other end picked up.

“Hello?” 


	9. An Important Phone Call And A Visa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George makes a call to his mother about school and Clay and George talk about getting a visa for George.

“Hello?” the other end spoke. “Hello, uhm… can I talk to you about school? Things haven’t been going that well.” George really hoped this conversation wouldn’t lead to having to move back to where he came from. “Of course.” George looked at Clay and walked into the only other room of the dorm - the bathroom - to get away from his friend. “Things have been ok… kind of.” George began, “I’ve made friends with my new roommate. He’s called Clay and he helped me make some new friends too…” he continued. “Does anyone bully you at that college?” George froze. “Um… sort of… there’s one person.” That was a lie. “He just pinned me to the locker once or twice. Mr Philza sorted it out though. He looks out for me. Also, Clay helped me too.” George tried to make it sound not as bad as it actually was. 

“WHAT?!” George winced. Not only at the deafening sound, but at the reaction. “George, if this is happening, you need to come back. There’s still another few colleges here to try.” “But mum-” George was cut off, “Talk to whoever’s in charge as soon as possible. I’ll send the college and email. Pack your things once they tell you to, you’re coming back here to go to a different college.” George’s heart sank. “But Clay- my friend is important to me. We’ve got really close.” George felt like he was about to cry. “You’re coming back here, George.” 

The boy opened the door and walked up to Clay, still on the phone. “Take care until then.” George’s mother finished. “Bye.” George said in a dead tone before hanging up. “So? How did it go?” Clay tried to smile. “I’m going back to bloody England.” George sat down on his bed and put his head in his hands. “Oh… I’m so sorry. This was my idea. If I didn’t tell you to call your parents, none of this would have happened.” Clay sat down next to his friend. The two looked anywhere but each other in silence. “It’s not too late, you know.” Clay said out of the blue. “What?” George knew it was too late. “My mum’s already setting me up for a new college. We can’t stop her.” Clay looked back at the floor. He really didn’t want George to leave. “I don’t want to leave you, you know that right?” Clay made sure this was known. “I don’t want to leave you either.” George brought up the courage to look at his friend. 

Clay went to sleep that night thinking about possible solutions on how to fix this. It kept him up until around midnight when his eyelids eventually grew heavy and gave in. 

\---

“I don’t want to leave you, you know that right?” Clay looked down at the smaller boy who had a familiar view of skyscrapers and cars behind him. “Of course.” George replied. “I don’t want to leave, but if it’s for my own good, I guess I’ll have to.” This is nothing like how George normally acted. Clay looked at the crowd of skyscrapers that hung over the sea of cars. He immediately looked away when he heard sobbing. “George? Are you ok?” Clearly not. “Yeah… just… leaving you will be difficult.” This is a lot more like how George acted. “S-stop crying.” Clay hated seeing George cry; he looked so broken. George laughed slightly. This made Clay feel a bit better even if the laugh sounded fake. “I can’t do anything about it.” George sighed while attempting a smile. Clay looked back at the view. 

It was almost supernaturally hot that night in Florida. There were frequent breezes that rushed past, but not enough to cool the boys down. When Clay looked back at his friend, George was already looking up at him. “I’m glad I came up here.” George said before he closed the already small space between the boys once again. 

\--- 

Clay woke up in a cold sweat again. He was sick of this dream haunting him each night. To his surprise, George was awake, typing something into his phone. Clay got up slowly, making sure not to make George jump. “Hey George.” Clay said quietly. “Oh… I didn’t realise you were awake.” George mumbled. “Why are you up so early?” The smaller boy asked. “Bad dream.” Clay responded. “Again? Was it the same one as a few nights ago?” George knew what dream that was and knew Clay had a hard time figuring out if it was a dream or a nightmare. “It was similar. Just a few things were different, like we were talking about you leaving and you were the one crying this time.” Clay told his friend while looking down at the pitch black floor that just looked like a void of nothingness. “Did I-” George was cut off, “Kiss me? Yeah.” Clay’s dream had become too predictable, even to George. “Is it a bad thing?” George was almost making no noise; he was talking so quietly. “I don’t know, George.” Clay sighed as he layed back down. “What are you typing?” Clay asked once he had laid down. “I’m texting my mum about moving back to England.” George didn’t take his eyes off his screen. “Oh.” is all Clay could say in that moment. “Apparently I’m leaving in two days.” George eventually said. “What? That soon?” Clay was surprised; he didn’t know you could book flights that take off within a matter of days. “Yeah.” George replied. “I’m so sorry.” Clay said again. “It’s fine.” 

It wasn’t. 

George really wanted to stay in Florida. He didn’t care if he got bullied. He had made enough friends to stick up for him. “Even if I do go back, we can still text and call. We have Discord and each other’s phone numbers.” George reminded the younger boy. Clay sighed and turned away from his friend to try and sleep some more. 

\---

Clay woke up to the sunlight beaming in through his windows again. He sighed and covered his face with his covers before they got pulled straight back off again. “Come on, we only have two days left together.” The voice Clay had listened to last night was far from what it was this morning. “George? I thought you were really upset..?” Clay didn’t want to remind his friend of the bad feeling but he wanted to know what was going on. “Oh… yeah, but I’ve decided to put it behind me. I’d prefer being happy on my last days in Florida than just be sad the whole time. Anyway, what should we do while I’m still here?” George almost looked like an angel with the sunlight shining behind him. 

Clay squinted as he got up and started heading to his drawers. “I’ll get dresses then we can go to my house if you want.” Clay suggested. “Ooh, yeah ok.” George was already dressed so he went through one of his bags for his phone. “I have a cat.” Clay added with a smile, knowing what George’s reaction would be. “Really!?” Clay had never seen George happier. “Yeah, her name is Patches.” Clay went to the door to grab his jacket off the hook. “Aw, does anyone feed her while you’re at college?” George asked. “Yeah, my parents or my sister checks in on her frequently.” The taller boy reassured. Before they left the dorm, Clay felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He looked at the front screen and saw an email from the college. He decided to read it later and start leading George down the stairs to the car park. 

On the way to Clay’s house, George looked out of the window, taking in the view of Florida; he wasn’t going to be there for much longer. “Are you ok?” He heard a voice next to him after the car had stopped. He hadn’t realised it, but they had arrived at Clay’s house already. “Uh… yeah. I just don’t wanna leave. That’s all.” But George felt like there was something else on his mind. “Are you sure?” Clay asked. “Yeah. Let's go and see your cat.” George tried to be as cheerful as possible. 

As soon as the pair walked through the door, George heard a loud meow from the kitchen. He heard a bell grow closer as he took his shoes off. “Hey Patches!” Clay greeted cheerfully in a slightly higher pitched voice than his usual deep voice. “Hello…” George tried to talk to the cat that was currently circling Clay’s ankles. Patches looked up at George and started to circle his ankles too. George giggled as Clay walked off to the kitchen. Patches and George eventually followed after. 

“Do you want anything to eat, George?” Clay offered. “Uhhh… yeah. I don’t mind what I eat though.” George was too busy playing with Patches. “I see you’ve grown quite close with my cat.” Clay looked at his friend with a smile. “Oh, yeah. I love cats.” George mentioned, laughing after. “I can tell.” Clay looked back at the toast he had put in the toaster. “You know, once you’ve finished college, you could always just move here. But you will need a visa.” Clay suggested. “And how do I get a visa?” George knew it was difficult. “Well… you need stuff in your document that’ll allow you to get one… or… you marry someone who has a citizenship.” Clay said, wincing. “Oh… I’m from the UK. this probably will only work one way.” George continued playing with his friend's cat instead of looking at Clay. “I- yeah… that’s gonna be difficult. And they won’t let you marry someone if it’s just for the visa. They won’t allow it. So if you were to marry me for a visa… we’ll have to somehow convince the government it’s for love, not the visa.” Clay ranted. “Woah. that’s a lot. Um, yeah, marrying you for a visa is gonna be a problem.” 

George knew this was going to be one of the things he’ll end up thinking about almost all the time. “I- I don’t know. We’ll have to think about it.” George concluded. After George had finished talking, he started quietly laughing. “What?” Clay looked behind him and saw burnt toast sticking out of the toaster. “Oh.” Clay tried to hold back a laugh but failed. “You might need to make another couple of slices of toast.” George suggested, still laughing. When Clay went into a different room to get something, George looked at Patches and thought about the visa.  _ What if it’s not for the visa? What if it-  _ “hey George.” the smaller boy was snapped out of his thought as his  _ friend _ walked back into the room. “I got more bread.” He continued. “Ok, don’t burn it this time.” George joked. “Me? Burn the toast? Never.” Clay joked back. “Look, I can show you how to make sure the toast is perfect.” George started to walk over to the counter with Patches following close behind. “Put the toast in.” George ordered. Clay put the toast in the toaster and looked at George blankly. “What now?” Clay was impatient. “Just wait a minute. The two stood in silence as Patches meowed below them, probably asking for food. “Now take it out.” George continued to tell Clay what to do. “Now put it back in upside down this time.” George didn’t say anything else - he was just telling Clay how to not burn toast. “Now wait another minute.” Clay huffed and looked down at Patches and started talking to her. “Yeah, I want food too. It’s tough, isn’t it?” George gave him a half annoyed stare which Clay just returned. 

“Ok, now take it out again.” George smiled as the toast came out looking perfect. “George! I didn’t think that would work. Thanks!” Clay said, a little too loud. “Maybe if you do marry me so I can get a visa, you can tell the government it’s for my cooking skills instead.” George put on a stupid smile, to which Clay just laughed. “You’re an idiot, Georgie.” He tried to say through the laugh. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the thing where George made the toast perfectly actually works. you should try it.


	10. Only A Few Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clay spends some last moments with his 'friend' George.

“We should probably head back and tell the others that you’re leaving.” Clay told George who was still playing with Patches. “Ok…” George slowly got up and went to the door to get his shoes on. “They’ll miss you, you know.” Clay said once they had got into the car and started driving. “I’ll miss everyone as well.” George mumbled back. They sat in silence until they got into the car park when Clay said, “Darryl will be upset more than anyone else.” He ended with a chuckle. “Yeah…” George didn’t know what to say; there wasn’t much to talk about and there wasn’t much point anymore. 

\---

“George is leaving.” Clay sighed. “WHAT?!” everyone shouted, almost in sync. “I told my mum about Techno and I was told I had to go back to England to sign up for a new college.” George looked at his feet while trying not to cry. Upon seeing George like this, everyone ran to make him feel better about the situation. At that, Clay was left standing alone. This meant he could finally read the email. He opened it, knowing it would have something to do with George leaving the college. It read: 

Dear Clay, 

At the sudden loss of your roommate, we are happy to tell you that you’ll be getting a new roommate who also had their current roommate leave. The student’s name is Ant Frost and he will be moving in to your dorm within the next week or so. If you have any issues, please contact the front desk. Thank you. 

\---

Clay knew Ant and they were pretty close. He just preferred George. Clay sighed and turned his phone off. He knew there was no easy way out of this one. It was going to end badly with anything he tried. Clay looked up and saw Darryl tightly hugging George. “What’s going on?” Clay asked with a laugh. “How long has George got left?” Nick asked hastily without context. “He’s leaving tomorrow.” Clay replied. “Is he ever coming back?” Darryl asked, still hugging George. “Well… we don’t know…” Clay began. “NO! Gogy’s gonna be gone soon!” Nick shouted. “Shush! Let’s just all meet up at lunch or something.” Clay suggested. “Ok fine.” Nick stopped shouting. Everyone agreed to meet on their lunch break. “I think the bell’s about to ring. You should all probably start heading to your lessons. Me and Georgie will go back to our dorm to finish packing a few things.” Clay started walking away, pulling George behind him. 

“I suggest you start packing your last few things… you’re leaving tomorrow.” Clay said quietly. “Ok…” George turned away from his friend and started to pack his last few things. “Uhh… can I have some help with my keyboard?” George asked. “Yeah.” Clay sighed as he put down his phone. “Um, before you put it away… could you play that song you played a few days ago?” Clay asked hesitantly. “Of course.” George pulled the wire over to one of the sockets and pressed the on button on the top of the keyboard. “Sorry if I make any mistakes.” George mumbled before positioning his fingers on the keys. 

He started playing it perfectly. Clay looked at the keyboard and how George was managing to play two different things at once. George ended the song, looking wide eyed at his friend. “What?” Clay asked, laughing, “you look terrified.” “I just played the whole thing perfectly.” George stated. “And that’s difficult because..?” Clay asked sarcastically. “I don’t know, it's just difficult.” George replied dumbly. Clay congratulated George before helping him put the Keyboard back in the bag George had pulled it out of only days before. 

“How much have you got left to pack?” Clay asked. He hoped it the answer to be nothing; he was looking through the random videos his YouTube recommendations page was made up of until George dragged him over to help pack his keyboard. “I’ve finished.” George replied. “Ok… do you want to go on one last walk?” Clay tried to smile. “Yes!” George was definitely going to miss the walks he went on with Clay. he was going to miss how every time he went outside, Tommy and Tubbo would be up to something. He would also miss Clay looking out for him when Niki and Wilbur came along. 

The two boys walked out of their dorm and down the corridor to go on a walk one last time. “I’m going to miss doing this.” George stated while trying to smile. “Me too.” Clay replied. He didn’t care if he didn’t smile. “I’ll try and come back.” George reassured. “Yeah, but you’ll need a- oh no.” Clay looked across the field and saw his friends - Nick, Karl, Quackity, Darryl and Zak, sitting at the bench they sat on the day before. “CLAY! GEORGE!” Nick shouted from across the field. Clay put his head in his hands and started walking over to the bench. George trailed behind, looking very confused. 

“Why are you not in lessons?” George asked once they had got to the bench. “Our teacher was ill.” Karl shrugged, “we couldn’t get a sub for some reason so we were just told the lesson had to be canceled.” Karl finished. “Anyway, I can’t believe you’re leaving George!” Karl hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to George during the time he was there. “Yeah… Techno was pinning me to the locker so Clay told me to tell my parents so I did and now I have to go back to England.” George talked about if it was all Clay’s fault. Clay looked at the floor as George said this. He knew he was joking but something about it just didn’t sit right with him. 

“There is one way we could get George to legally be able to stay here.” George knew what this was. They already spent ages talking about it. Well, that’s what it felt like. “Yeah… but-” Clay cut him off, “If I marry him, he would legally be allowed a visa.” Clay spoke before George could reason with him. “They won’t let you if it’s just for the green card.” Nick mentioned, “you’ll have to act like it’s not for the visa.” That was something Nick was looking forward to. At this point, George had his head in his hands. The whole conversation of marrying someone for a visa was somehow draining. A year ago, George would have never known he would be considering marrying his best friend for a pass to live and work in America. 

“Yeah, that’s gonna be difficult…” Clay broke George’s train of thought. “What? Why?” George asked. He was sure faking love wouldn’t be that difficult. “I don’t know. Just something about it feels wrong.” Clay started denying his plan. “Oh… we don’t have to get married. I’m not really bothered. You can always come to England.” George suggested. “I suppose… but you wouldn’t get the same experience as you would if you were in Florida.” The other boys who had clearly been forgotten of were taking in the whole conversation while just standing in silence. The only person who was willing to stand with the two was Nick - he just wanted to know if they were getting married. 

Just as Karl was about to start talking about the whole ‘marrying for a visa’ thing, the bell rang, dismissing all of the students from their previous lesson and leading them to their next. Everyone waved goodbye before heading to their next lesson, or in George and Clay’s case, back to their dorm. 

“Do you wanna play Minecraft when we get back?” George asked. “You could have chosen to do anything on your last few days in this school, and you choose to play Minecraft?” Clay failed to hold back a laugh. “Well, what would you have done in my situation?” George looked up at his friend. “Play Minecraft if my friend also played it.” He mumbled. “Yep.” George replied with a smug smile on his face. The two walked down the quiet halls once again. The only noise being a teacher shouting from classrooms every now and then. 

When they reached the door, Clay opened it and ran towards his laptop. “Have you got your laptop somewhere you can get it from easily?” Clay asked eagerly. “Yeah, It’s in my bag.” George replied before walking over to his pile of bags and pulling out a blue backpack. “I’ll get my charger as well.” George sat on the end of Clay’s bed a few minutes later and opened his laptop. He hadn’t played Minecraft in a while; he didn’t have much time now that he had more friends to spend time with. “What’s your username?” George asked, ready to friend Clay. “It's Dream156.” Clay replied. “Ok… mine is GeorgeNotFound.” he told the boy in front of him. A few minutes later, they had loaded up a new survival world and they seemed to both work well together.    
  


“I’ll get wood and stone and you can get food.” Clay suggested. “Ok.” George replied without looking up from his screen. Clay started mining stone and looking for a cave when he looked up at George who had a terrified look on his face. “Uh… are you ok?” Clay wheezed at the way George looked back at him. “Yeah… there’s an- AAAAAH!” Clay looked over at George’s screen and saw an enderman chasing him. He let out a loud laugh as his friend freaked out over their game. “George, calm down…” He tried to say but it just came out as a laugh. Eventually a death message showed up in the chat that said: GeorgeNotFound was slain by enderman. This just made Clay laugh even more. George looked at him with an annoyed look but soon started laughing as well. “You’re an idiot.” George mumbled. “Yeah, so are you.” Clay tried to calm himself down. 

Eventually, the afternoon got late and soon turned into evening. The sky reflected a pink-ish shimmer into the room before the sun slowly set, making the room dark. The only thing lighting the room up was the glow of the boys’ computer screens and the light shining through the crack in the door that led to the hall. Clay didn’t look at the time until he heard George yawn, Clearly indicating that he was tired. Clay looked at the time on his alarm clock that emitted a faint green glow that read 11:37pm. His eyes went wide and immediately turned to George. Turns out he didn’t need to tell him to sleep; he was already curled up at the end of his bed. Clay let out a quiet breath that resembled a laugh before turning his and his friend’s computer off and putting them on the floor next to the bed. 

Clay leaned against the wall and turned his head to the side to get more comfortable. Eventually his eyelids sank and sent him to sleep again. This time, the dream didn’t haunt him again. Instead it was replaced with the rare and peaceful nothingness. 


	11. 'Bye, George'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> George takes his flight back to England

George woke up and almost fell out of whatever bed he was sleeping in. A loud thump on the floor woke Clay up soon after. “You ok, George?” Clay was laughing to himself slightly. “Yeah… did I fall asleep like that? On the end of the bed?” George squinted up at his friend. “Yeah.” Clay stopped laughing eventually and got out of bed to help George pack a few last things. “Should I put your laptop in your bag?” Clay offered. “Uh… yeah, thanks.” George called over his shoulder while picking out a pair of clothes from one of his bags. 

“Do you have everything?” Clay continued to question his friend. “Yeah.” George replied. “I need to say bye to Karl, Nick, Quackity and Darryl.” George remembered. Clay quickly got dressed as he saw George walk towards the door and followed him down the stairs. The pair ran down the stairs, trying to spare their time before George’s plane took off. As soon as Clay and George came into the hall, the first thing to happen was Darryl sprinted up to George and hugged him. The others followed behind and stood around George. “Is he coming back?” Karl asked Clay hopefully. “Maybe… but he’ll need a visa.” George hated this conversation. Every time Clay brought it up, he always felt some sense of disappointment of how they could have talked about anything but they just end up talking about the visa. 

George sighed and tried to finish the conversation, “yeah, but the only way of that happening is if me and Clay get married and I don’t see that happening.” “Ooo, Clay, you just got rejected by George.” Nick tried to joke. “No, he just likes being difficult.” Clay looked at George with an annoyed look. “We’ll have to wait until I manage to somehow get out of college.” George finished eventually. He looked at his blue leather-strapped watch and saw the time - 9:35. His plane was leaving in an hour. “Clay, we need to go; it’s getting late.” George pointed at his watch. “Ok, I’ll be back soon. You can all say bye to George.” Clay mumbled. 

\---

The drive to the airport felt like forever. George just wanted to get it done and over with so he can get on the plane and forget any of this even happened. But he knew forgetting this would be difficult. George eventually found the button that turned the radio on and pressed it, anticipating what song would play. To his disappointment, the only thing playing at that moment was ads. Clay sighed and flicked through the stations hoping to find a decent song on one of them. The problem was, all the stations were playing ads. “Just plug my phone in and choose something on that. George did as he was told and brought the black wire to his friends phone. 

“Password?” George knew he probably shouldn’t ask for the password to someone else’s phone but this was Clay. “four, three, six, seven, four, three.” Clay stated, his eyes staying on the road. George opened Clay’s phone and opened Apple Music. “Ooh, I didn't know you listened to these songs.” George stared at the wide selection of songs Clay had downloaded. From Disney songs to playlists by Glass Animals, some songs by Wilbur from his college and just some random lo-fi hip-hop songs. “Yeah, you can choose what you want, I don’t mind.” Clay then remembered the song George had played the day before was still in his music library. “Oh! You have Mr Loverman in your library!” George instantly clicked on it and it started to play. 

The two sat in comfortable silence while the song played. George had looped it so the next time it came on, he quietly hummed to the tune. Clay smiled to himself and continued driving. After a thirty minute drive, George and Clay got to the airport. It wasn’t as busy as George had expected it to be. He always thought places like Florida had really busy airports all year round; the weather was normally good there for someone who comes from a cold and rainy country. “It’s not that busy today so I think you’ll be fine in there.” Clay said before opening the car door, signalling George to get out as well. 

“Well… this is it.” Clay sighed. He didn’t want this to be ‘it’. He wanted George to stay for as long as he possibly could. He knew this would stay on his mind for an unhealthy amount of time. And the worst part was that it was all his fault. If he hadn’t told George’s parents, none of this would have happened. “I’m sorry you had to leave.” Clay apologized again. “It’s fine… hopefully I’ll come back at some point.” George sighed before waving and walking away. Before he could get too far away, Clay ran up to his friend one last time.  _ It was now or never. I can’t just make this happen when I’m reliving a dream.  _ Clay thought to himself. He stopped when George had realised his friend was running towards him. “Is everything ok?” George tilted his head to one side. Before George could say anything else, Clay leaned in and closed the small gap the pair had between them. 

When Clay pulled away, George froze. 

“Bye, George.” Clay waved until George turned around and started to walk away. George’s eyes started to well up the further away from Clay he got. Clay didn’t stop waving until George was out of sight and had mixed with the crowd inside the airport. 

Clay stared through the window of the airport before slowly getting into his car. Before he started driving, he sent two texts. First, one to George that read: tell me when you’re on the plane and when you get back to London <3 -- and another to Nick saying: hey, I’m staying at home today. Tell everyone that I won’t be in there -- he turned his phone off and stuffed it in his pocket before driving away from the airport. On his way back, he passed the restaurant he and George had gone to on George’s first day in Florida. Clay sighed before he turned down his street. He pulled into his driveway and was greeted by Patches meowing at him from the floor. 

Clay walked through the door but when he opened it, he felt something soft hit the wall that was on the back of the door. He shut the door to see what the item was. He almost cried when he saw what it was. It was a blue and white jacket that he had seen on George a few days before. He sighed as he took it off the hanger and threw it onto the sofa, to which Patches immediately ran up to and curled up in it. Clay let out a soft laugh. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.  _ ‘I’m on the plane :]’ _ George had sent back from the earlier texts. Clay’s face fell; he didn’t want George to be on the plane. He wanted him to be back in the college with Nick, Karl, Quackity and Darryl. Unfortunately, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. 

Clay looked at his clock before turning to patches who had fallen asleep on George’s jacket. “I need to get George a visa. Or at least help him get one.” Clay quietly noted. He didn’t want to give up on this friendship. 

After about half an hour of overthinking, Clay got tired and eventually drifted off to sleep, patches still at his side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One last chapter after this one! It should be published later today or tomorrow; I already have a draft in my notebook. hope you enjoyed :]


	12. 'Why Are You Here?'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter, can't really explain it in a summary.

Clay woke up on the sofa after probably falling asleep. All he could think about was George.  _ When is he coming back? Will he come back? Is he ok?  _ The questions played like a broken record in his head. Just like the question he had constantly asked himself about a week ago:  _ is this a dream or a nightmare? _ He wasn’t really keeping track of time anymore. Clay was snapped out of his train of thought when he heard the doorbell ring. 

_ That’s odd. _ Clay told himself; he hadn’t ordered anything or invited anyone round. Or at least he thought he didn’t. It could be Nick. Clay sighed as he walked to the door and absent-mindedly swung it open and greeted whoever it was with a dead “Hello.” “Clay?” a familiar voice rang through the taller boy's ears. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooo thanks for reading this! this is actually the first book I've actually finished and enjoyed writing. Also, I can expect some people would probably ask if there's going to be a part 2 so yes, there is but I'll make it a separate book. it's also more of a second book than just a 'part 2' idk if that makes sense. but yeah, thanks for reading!
> 
> -ClaraKing404


End file.
